Jim Harbaugh knows how to evaluate QBs

On his first full day as a head football coach, Jim Harbaugh got right to work building his reputation as a pre-eminent evaluator of quarterbacks.

It was Dec. 21, 2003, and Harbaugh, the just-hired coach at the University of San Diego, made a recruiting trip to the Bay Area to meet a quarterback nearly no one else wanted. Oakland Tech’s Josh Johnson was 5-foot-9, 160 pounds, and until Harbaugh arrived, he’d received interest only from St. Mary’s, which has since dropped its football program.

There seemingly wasn’t much to see, but Harbaugh saw something. And Johnson would become the first NFL draft pick in the history of USD, a nonscholarship football program, when Tampa Bay selected him in the fifth round in 2008.

“He saw Josh playing basketball,” Oakland Tech coach Delton Edwards said of Harbaugh’s visit. “He saw what kind of leader he was and how aggressive he was on the basketball court. And then he looked at his highlight tape and he just fell in love with him.”

Nearly a decade later, Harbaugh made another quarterback decision that initially appeared curious, but is now viewed as inspired. After Colin Kaepernick threw for 263 yards, rushed for 181 and accounted for four touchdowns in the 49ers‘ 45-31 divisional-playoff win over Green Bay on Jan. 12, the still-skeptical were silenced.

Kaepernick’s transcendent performance further cemented Harbaugh’s reputation as a quarterback-evaluating savant, a skill that was called into question when he benched efficient Alex Smith for a second-year QB with 31 career attempts less than two months ago.

In late November, a Super Bowl-winning quarterback was criticizing Harbaugh’s judgment: “Alex Smith, what he’s done over the last two years for this football team, this is a mistake in not starting him,” the NFL Network’s Kurt Warner said.

This week, a Super Bowl-winning quarterback was echoing the awe of so many others regarding Kaepernick: “He may be the most dynamic quarterback in the NFL. … Forget the running, that arm alone is enough to make you a franchise quarterback,” CBS analyst Phil Simms said.

On the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated, the magazine offered a national mea culpa for those who had questioned the quarterback whisperer: “Shout It From The Mountaintop, Jim – You Were Dead On About Colin Kaepernick.”

Not that Harbaugh needed the public affirmation: He knew he was right all along.

Just ask his close friend and former assistant, University of South Florida head coach Willie Taggart. The running backs coach for three seasons under Harbaugh at Stanford, Taggart is certain Harbaugh didn’t concern himself with second-guessing when he made the decision to promote Kaepernick.

His quarterback for two seasons at Stanford, Andrew Luck, set a rookie record for passing yards (4,374) with the Colts. Meanwhile, current Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan, a redshirt freshman Harbaugh recruited, led the Cardinal to a Rose Bowl victory after he became the starter late in the season. Back in the NFL, Washington rookie Robert Griffin III, whom Harbaugh recruited heavily at Stanford, ranked third in the NFL in passer rating.

In 2008, the top two high school quarterbacks on Harbaugh’s wish list at Stanford were Luck and Griffin, who became the NFL’s top two draft picks four years later. Luck’s potential was obvious – SuperPrep rated him as the nation’s seventh-best quarterback prospect. After Harbaugh signed Luck, however, he still pursued Griffin, a world-class track athlete at Copperas Cove (Texas) High who was SuperPrep’s 62nd-ranked prospect in the state.

“People weren’t sure if he could really play quarterback,” SuperPrep publisher Allen Wallace said recently. “He wasn’t viewed by many people as a great quarterback prospect. He was more of an athlete who hadn’t really proven himself as a passer.”

Griffin, of course, signed with Baylor. Harbaugh eventually got a quarterback with a similar skill set when the 49ers drafted Kaepernick in the second round of the 2011 draft. Taggart, who first met Harbaugh in 1994, said his former boss prizes quarterbacks such as Kaepernick who can run, as long as they possess the necessary intangibles.

“When he’s recruiting them and doing his research on them, he’s finding out who’s competitive? Who’s tough? Who’s smart?” Taggart said. “Who can get me a couple of first downs with their feet? You look at all those guys – all of them can get a couple of first downs with their feet.”

Or, in the case of Kaepernick, they can get the most yards by a quarterback in an NFL game with their feet. In the aftermath of Kaepernick’s record-breaking performance against the Packers, Taggart sent a text to Harbaugh.

This time, it was Taggart who knew he was right as he typed out his message, which read: “You are the best evaluator of quarterbacks in the country. Hands down.”